Google were not the only ones circling round Motorola

We gave you the news yesterday that Google have announced they are to purchase Motorola in a $12.5 billion deal. The move has been linked to the amount of patents that Motorola owns and Google’s attempts to take on Apple. Today we have news that Google were not the only ones circling round Motorola.

The deal as yet to be approved but according to Redmond Pie Microsoft was also looking to purchase Motorola, but for less money than Google is forking out. It looks the biggest thing that Motorola had going for it in other companies eyes were its many patents. The company currently has 17,000 in the US alone with around 7,500 still pending.

The takeover by Google will allow the company to have access to an even larger customer base as it attempts to further expand Android. Microsoft buying up Motorola could have given the company great potential to expand its Windows Phone 7 market share, and would have given it more chance of taking on Android.

This could have forced Google’s hand, and the two companies were allegedly in talks for five weeks, with Google CEDO Larry Page taking part towards the end. If the deal gets the ok Google could start looking at its competitors and how they implement their operating systems. Some of these could already break Motorola’s patents, and we may see more court battles as Google go after the likes of Apple and Microsoft.

Google could just be looking to snap up Motorola to enhance its own products, but with the way things have been lately in the smartphone market it makes you wonder. We are continually seeing patent disputes going through the courts as all the big players try to gain a bigger slice of the pie.

Along the way we could see some big changes with companies that were once big players see their market share shrink dramatically. The likes of Nokia and RIM are currently experiencing tough times as they go through a transitional period. Google’s proposed takeover of Motorola if approved is expected to go through by the beginning of next year.